


Pool Party, Part 2

by justinsbuzz



Series: Celestial Connverse-gence arc [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Pool Party, Reconciliation, Reunions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justinsbuzz/pseuds/justinsbuzz
Summary: Steven, Connie, and Sadie go in search of Lars, who has ran away. Again.





	Pool Party, Part 2

**Author's Note:**

> This one took a while to write. i was hoping to have it done by the 6th, but good things take time. Decent things take a little longer. It's also kind of my first time attempting to write anything remotely romantic. But, yeah, enjoy.

Pool party, Part two

All that was left were the tracks, the prints of the ships landing gear left in the sand. Steven swore he saw it here this morning, in an area south of the Temple, and of Beach City. Dumbstruck, Steven and Connie began their search for even the most minor traces of Lars and the ship before Sadie spoke.

“Not…not this again…” Sadie said, holding back the tears. “Why do I keep trying to hold out for someone who just keeps…”

“No, Sadie.” Steven interjected. “We’re going to find him.”

“We will!” Connie spoke with determination. “I mean, he’s in a giant, golden spaceship! That’s not something that can just easily disappear.”

Connie proceeded to pull out her cellphone from her bag that she took with her, and check anything on Fumblr for any news about ‘Golden flying spaceships’ in the Delmarva area. Steven was about to peak over Connie’s shoulder to take a look as well, since he left his cellphone in his bag, which was back at the fountain, before he locked eyes on Lion. More importantly, Lion’s pink, fluffy mane. Lion knew exactly what Steven was thinking and proceeded to lay on the ground, startling Sadie.

“Great. Lion’s given up too. Or broken. I dunno anymore.” Sadie said, still holding back tears, sliding off Lion’s back and onto the ground right next to him. “Oh, well. I might as well join him.”

At that moment, Connie caught on to what Steven was thinking.

“Don’t give up just yet, Sadie Killer. I think I know exactly how we can get straight to him.” Steven said, Smiling at Lion. “Lion and Lars is connected through the, well, ‘hair dimension’. Basically, it’s a portal, a worm hole, that links Lion mane to Lars through their hair. We can go directly to him!”

Sadie looked very confused before turning her attention to Connie, who seems to know more about what Steven was saying.

“Connie. Your boyfriend is broken.” Sadie said as Connie came over to her. “It’s ok, just lay down right next to me and let the tears fall naturally. Welcome to the ‘Girlfriends of broken Boyfriends club. Working on the name. we’ll talk about it at the next…. meeting….”

“No, no, no. He’s not broken. He’s Steven. Ste-Ven.” Connie said, trying to make a joke to cheer Sadie up. “But I know what he’s saying. We go through Lion’s mane, which is actually a subatomic matter wormhole, walk across a weird pink grassy field that lies in an area removed from certain aspects of spacetime…. You know what, you can come with. Way easier to show you the magic than to explain the science.”

Steven grew unsure of the idea. It would be a good way persuade Lars to come back, but afraid that bringing Sadie along would make things more complicated. Looking over, Steven would have been outvoted easily. He also knew that Lars is going to need a cold shower of reality that there are people who really matter to him that want’s him to come back. And Sadie was in the top 2, slightly behind his parents. Despite the fact that it had occurred to him that he hasn’t said a word to them, even though the large crashed spaceship on the beach would have been some form of indication that he had returned, Steven pressed on.

“OK. So, before we go in there Sadie, how well can you hold your breath?” Steven asked Sadie who was wiping away her tears.

“Well, I was on a swim team a long time ago. Maybe about a minute or two?” Sadie reminisced, with a painful grimace on her face. “I….was not a graceful swimmer.”

“Need not worry about breathing.” Connie spoke, fishing out a few objects from her bag that looked like respirators. “Behold! Portable air masks. They’re absolutely safe, and can work underwater for about 15 minutes. It should work longer inside Lions mane.”

“Wow! Where did you get these?” Steven asked with star-shaped pupils in his eyes.

“It was a collaborative effort between me and Peridot.” Connie said, folding her arms together. “They were going to be your birthday present, but this would be a good time to use it.”

“That’s awesome that you and Peridot worked on something together!” Steven exclaimed, inspecting the masks, and handing one over to Sadie. “That alone is an awesome present.”

Yeah…cause….it was definitely a proper collaboration….and no one was coerced…. totally neutral.” Connie said, trying not to look guilty.

In reality, months before the party and the dream, Connie did ask Peridot nicely if she could help her with a project for a birthday present for Steven. after a few ‘no’ replies, as well as ‘No, you clod’, ‘never, you second rated Steven Universe’, and a lot of dead end bargaining, it came down to a negotiation tactic of Connie grabbing Peridot and swinging her around in the middle of the sky arena.

“FREAKING HELP ME, YOU MUTATED GREMLIN!” Connie roared, using every ounce of strength she had to continue spinning Peridot until she gave in. “I Swear, Peri, I will fling you off this platform, drag your green butt back up here and do this all over again!”

“GAH! HELP ME, LAPIS!” Peridot screeched, feeling her body becoming longer through centripetal forces. “HEEEEAAAALLLLP MMMEEEEEE!!!!!!!!”

Lapis, sitting in the stands and reading from her book, looked over at the spectacle of Connie about ready to fling Peridot off the sky arena.

“hmmm…. nope.” Lapis said flatly as she returned her attention towards.

“OH, COME ON!” Both Connie and Peridot yelled in absolute shock that Lapis would just let Peridot get thrown off a floating cliff like a wayward frisbee. Connie’s grip was slipping, and both Connie and Peridot knew this. Before Connie could say or do anything, Peridot conceded defeat.

“OK, FINE! I’LL HELP WITH YOUR STUPID PROJECT!” Peridot whined loudly, letting Connie slow down the spinning process, but not before she lost her grip, causing Peridot to not be flung off the cliff, but into the stands. More precisely, right at Lapis, who didn’t see Peridot being flung at her head.

\-----

“Didn’t have to fling anyone off of any cliffs, that’s for sure.” Connie said, looking at her feet, realizing she left her sandals back at the fountain.

“Um, OK.” Steven said, looking confused while putting the respirator on. “So, why did you make these exactly? Is it because you take my breath away sometimes?”

“Well, that’s a given. I’m also planning on getting another haircut, and I know if I cut it short, it could nearly kill you. And since I don’t have healing spit, this will have to do for now.” Connie said flirtingly.

Both Steven and Connie suddenly busted into laughter at the cheesy flirtation when Sadie loudly cleared her throat, reminding them that there was someone else there, and they had something they needed to do.

“Oh. Right. Sorry, Sadie.” Connie said embarrassingly while putting on the respirator. “So, once you get in there, you’re going to want to flip the switch on the side. Doing it now wont really do anything at all, except letting the all of the concentrated air disks go to waste.”

“Well, if this worked underwater, would it really work inside of lion’s mane?” Sadie asked looking quizzically at the respirator, and then at Connie “I mean, water pressure usually helps seal the mask around the face really well, but, is there any air pressure in there? Or is it a vacuum in there?”

For a few moments, Connie had a blank look in her eyes. It dawned on her that the fact that air pressure could be an issue if the masks could work properly inside of Lion’s mane. She then grabbed the straps of the respirator, and synched them tighter.

“We got this.” Connie stated, sounding slightly muffled with the mask on.

Jumping through Lions mane, Sadie stood in wonderment of the pink, grassy savanna that was within this strange dimension. The respirators worked perfectly in there, and Connie couldn’t have looked any prouder at this remarkable accomplishment. Without the fear of suffocating, Steven, Connie, and Sadie took their time, going from one hillside to another. Enjoying the soft breeze and the gentle waves of grass, Steven and Connie were amazed as well. In Steven’s mind, he could already see himself and Connie having picnics in this place, only to come to the reality that they couldn’t eat with the masks on. Either way, a familiar place had become more magical than before.

They finally made it to Lars’s tree and hill, in which everyone stopped.

“OK, I’ll go in first to check and see if it’s safe for everyone else to go in. If I’m not back in 5, maybe come in and save me?” Steven said, looking highly unsure about the plan.

Connie looked at both Sadie and Steven’s respirators, checking the dials to see how much longer they have left before the oxygen pods ran out.

“7 minutes. We should be good.” Connie said, pulling away. “But we’re going in at 4 minutes. I don’t think Lars would be in any real trouble.”

“He might just be hiding.” Sadie said sadly. “I don’t think I could get through to him. Steven seems to have a better chance.”

Everyone nodded in agreement before Steven dived through the grass and out the other side.

Sadie turned to Connie with a mild surprise on her face.

“And to be honest, I don’t think I was prepared to see that today.” Sadie said.

“The magical portal? This really pink place?” Connie asked, looking for more details.

“No, this was kind of expected. You and Steven flirting with each other was…. something.” Sadie replied flatly.

“Yeah…sorry about that.” Connie replied, looking embarrassed and rubbing the back of her head. “It’s, you know, just couples’ stuff and all.”

“Yeah, no, I get that. It was just surreal. Plus, I think Lars lost a bet to me. He never thought you two would end up together.” Sadie said.

“Never bet against cute ‘one true pairing’ tropes.” Connie said, shaking her head.

\--------

Ina brief flash of light, Steven went from diving through the lush pink grass of an otherworldly savannah to going head first into a piece of machinery within the dark engine room of the Sun Incinerator. Sometimes, it’s better to look before you leap. And with a hollow think, Steven sunk to the floor with nothing more but a bruised forehead and slight distortion. Looking up, he saw the main engine of the ship, covered in dents from a blunt object. But from behind him, he heard deep, gasping breaths. Turning around, he saw Lars with a long pipe, about to strike, and with instinct Steven produced his shield to block an oncoming attack. The strike from the blunt object didn’t come to blows to Steven, but to the engine behind him. Steven quickly rolled away before being accidentally struck.

“COME! ON! YOU! HUNK! OF! JUNK!” Lars roared, with every word ending with a hard blow to the engine. “GET! ME! OFF! THIS! STUPID! HUNK! OF! USELESS! ROCK!”

Steven could only look on as Lars vented his unknown source of frustration on the damaged and disabled engine. After a few strikes, Lars keeled over in exhaustion, still unaware that Steven had emerged from his head. Running the risk of attack, Steven spoke.

“My mom protected this ‘hunk of useless rock’ you know.” Steven spoke calmly, startling Lars “But then again, she lied to a lot of her friends and family, so it’s hard to gauge her moral center.”

After letting out an audible surprised gasp, Lars squinted into the dimly lit room to see Steven sitting nearby. His face went from the look of exhaustion to full on panic mode.

“Oh no. NOT YOU!” Lars wailed. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!”

Lars, with newfound energy went back to wailing on the ship’s engine, believing that blunt force trauma on an intimate object would get it to work.

Lars, stop!” Steven yelled, looking very concerned. “Seriously, what are you doing? Why are you trying to leave?”

Lars stopped in mid strike to look back at Steven for a few moments, only to drop the pipe and walk off. Shoulders slumped. Leaning against the wall at the foot of the staircase leading to the main deck. He the proceeded to slide down with his back against the wall and buried his face into his knees, trying to hide the tears.

“Lars.” Steven said in a worried tone.

“JUST GO BACK, STEVEN!” Lars yelled. “Leave me alone. I know what you’re here to do, but I’m not going back! I…I can’t go back.”

“’You can’t go back’?” Steven asked, gently walking towards Lars. “Lars, what’s going on? Why can’t you go back?”

Lars’s knees slump to the sides, causing him to sit cross-legged. He stared down at his pink hued hands for a few moments before answering Steven, who was now sitting down near him.

“Because…. I’m a freak now.” Lars answered sadly. “I’m…I was this angsty kid before I left. But now, I’m even worse than before. I’m pink now. I’m undead, Steven. I- wait, what are you wearing?”

Lars was looking directly at the respirator that Steven still had on his face.

“Oh! Yeah, these things.” Steven replied, taking his off while looking at the oxygen dial, which showed that it had 6 minutes left. Still plenty of time to go back through Lions mane, with a few detours. “Connie and Peridot made these! It helped Connie, Sadie and I-”

“SADIE?!” Lars exclaimed, looking at his hair. “NO! No, no, no! Steven, why did you bring her into my head? It’s bad enough that she’s always in my head, but now it’s just…. ridiculously literal!!”

“Calm down, Lars.” Steven said, trying to calm Lars down. “She insisted on coming. She wouldn’t have taken no for an answer.”

“You should have tried harder!” Lars snapped at Steven. “I can’t let her see me like this! I’m not ready! Maybe just give me a few decades or so.”

“Lars, you’ve been gone for over a year now!” Steven exclaimed “Sadie misses you! Your parents! Even the cool kids are bummed that they haven’t seen you in a while. You aren’t a freak.”

“I am. I’m a pink zombie. A pink freak! What would they say if they saw me like this?” Lars asked, looking more worried than usual. Steven was going to regret what he’s about to tell him.

“Lars…they’ve already seen you. Sadie has at least.” Steven answered. “Even before you came back, she’s seen the pictures of you already. The cool kids too. They think you look awesome! You’re not a freak to them.”

“WHAT?! You showed them pictures of me?!” Lars yelped in shock.

“If by you, you mean the notorious Captain Lars, leader of a renegade group of off-colored gems, and captain of the pirated gem destroyer? Yes.” Steven replied flatly. “They think you’re awesome!”

“If I’m so awesome…then why did I crash into a cornfield?” Lars asked, sounding annoyed. Lifting up the sleeve of his glove, he pressed a few buttons to open one of the side doors on the opposite wall. Steven walked towards the open door to see the landscape set before him, which was the corn field on the outskirts of Beach City. He wasn’t able to get too far away from where he initially landed.

“Well, at least you didn’t end up crashing on the moon, right?” Steven said, looking back at Lars, who was still depressed.

“If only I were that lucky.” Lars grumbled.

“Lars…” Steven said empathetically.

“I mean, seriously. What kind of cool captain tries to run away? And the worse part is that Sadie could just emerge at any time from my-”

Just then, almost like clockwork, Sadie flew right out of Lars hair and tumbled onto the ground with Connie in toe.

“Sorry, Steven. Only made it to two minutes.” Connie groaned as Steven rushed over to help her up. “She’s surprisingly agile.”

Sadie was able to stand up on her own. She looked around at the engine room of the ship, as well as the door that led to the outside. Slowly, she turned to see Lars, who was still on the ground and in complete shock.

“Oh no.” Lars said softly, while Sadie walked towards him. “Don’t…. don’t look at m-”

Just before he could have finished his sentence, Sadie had pounced on top of him with a huge hug. This was something Lars didn’t anticipate.

“Lars!” Sadie exclaimed. “Oh my gosh! Lars! Is…is this even real? Jumping into a lion’s mane, through a magical realm, and finally here?”

Lars was frozen in place, unable to speak due to shock. He didn’t prepare for this.

“S-Sadie…” Lars murmured before wrapping an arm around Sadie. “I…I’m sorry.”

“Shut up, you big, pink goof!” Sadie exclaimed, burying her face in Lars’s chest. “I just want to listen to your…. really faint heart beat?”

Lars began to look very uncomfortable, more so than he has ever been before.

“Well…um….” Lars began to stutter before Sadie squeezed him tighter.

“Oh Lars! I’m so sorry!” Sadie said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“No, Sadie, I’m ok. Really. I’m just…..pink. A pink freak who doesn’t belong here.” Lars said, sounding defeated and miserable.

“Yes, you do!” Sadie exclaimed. “Lars, you’re not a freak. And you belong here.”

“But, aren’t you weirded out? I’m technically a zombie.” Lars said, trying to find excuses for Sadie to run away. He was being very unsuccessful. “Where would I even fit in anymore? I’m…I’m scared of going home, looking like this.”

“Lars, I’m a punk rock queen. A pink, zombie boyfriend just makes it a lot cooler.” Sadie said, unable to stop herself from saying what she had said. Steven and Connie could only watch from the sidelines.

“Boyfriend?” Lars said in surprise. Sadie leaned off of him and sat down right next to him.

“Lars. When you were taken away, I thought I would never see you again. And when Steven came back and told me everything, things just started crumbling around me. I thought if I quit my job, and just ended up being in a band, it would take my mind off of loosing you.” Sadie spoke softly, but sounding guilty. “It didn’t. it just made me think of you more. Every time I went out on the stage, I always tried to imagine your face in the crowd, so that I could just sing for you. It helped most sets, but afterwards…it just a shock of reality that you were never there.”

For a brief moment, Sadie held Lars’s hand, and gripped it tight.

“I honestly didn’t know when you would be back, or even if you would. But I still held out hope. And if you ever did come back, I would tell you everything. Say all the things I should have said before you left. To tell you the things that matter. The truth.” Sadie spoke, closing her eyes and metaphorically searching for the strength to tell Lars everything. “Lars, I Lo-”

“Love I Sadie you?!” Lars blurted out, looking nervous and somewhat brain dead. To add to the awkwardness of the situation, his face took on an unusual shade of purple. Sadie desperately tried her best not to laugh. “I…what I mean to say…is…is that I know how you feel. And…I love you too. But you deserve better. You don’t need a coward like me. Someone who constantly runs, and runs, and runs. Missing out on things because I’m afraid of how people might see me. I’m afraid of how you would see me as some lanky, scared kid.”

“Lars, I don’t think that will ever happen.” Sadie said smiling. “Even before, when we use to stay up all night playing video games. All those days behind the counter of a donut shop in a small town. If anyone was afraid of being themselves, it’s me!”

Lars face went blank with defeat. She was right. Of all the people who knew him best, she was the one who was closest.

“Lars, you don’t have to run anymore. Just stay with me. Please.” Sadie, still smiling warningly at Lars. “I love you lars.”

“Sad-” Lars began to speak before Sadie leaned in and kissed him. It had been years since they had this feeling. This moment. But in sudden realization, Sadie pulled back, looking frightened.

“O- Oh my gosh. Lars. I’m sorry, I should ha-” Sadie began to apologies profusely before Lars reached in to steal a kiss as well. for a few moments, they shared a silent kiss before pulling away.

“You know…for a dead guy, you have warm lips. And you kiss pretty good.” Sadie said jokingly.

“Yeah, well, I-” Lars began to speak before looking over to see Steven and Connie. They were both grinning ear to ear, tears welling up in their eyes, and holding each other’s hand in excitement. There was more than two dead entities in that room, apart from Lars and the ships engine. Lars went from being a slight purple to a cherry red.

“They did it. They finally did it!” Steven said through grinning teeth.

“Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” Connie said, seemingly the only sound she could make at the moment.

“GAH! You guys! Seriously? Just standing there and watching all weird like?! What the heck?” Lars said frustratingly, while Sadie giggled. “Don’t you two have something else to do. like, not being here and looking… goofy.”

“Guys…you think you could maybe get lion to come pick us up?” Sadie said, blushing. “Like, do you have a whistle or something to call Lion?”

“Well….no.” Steven said, looking away.

“Well, maybe you could walk home to get him or something?” Lars snapped, looking embarrassed and annoyed.

“It’s about 10 miles away and it’s about 36.6 bar degrees Celsius outside.” Connie said, speaking in metric. “Or 98 degrees Fahrenheit to some.” 

“And I forgot my sandals.” Steven said, pointing at his bare feet.

“And I’m not going to carry this biscuit in that dummy heat.” Connie said, pointing her thumb at Steven, who stuck his tongue out and crossing his eyes comically.

“So, there’s only one way to…get back…to him.” Steven went back to grinning, while looking at Connie, who snorted loudly while looking back at him. She knew what Steven was thinking. Everyone knew that there was only one way to get back, and that one way was attached to the body of someone who let out a loud groan.

“OK, FINE! Just…just get it over with already!” Lars said looking frustrated for a moment before looking back at and chuckling Sadie. All he could do was smile before Connie put her hand into Lars’s hair.

“There’s the mean old Lars we all know and love, some more than others.” Connie said through the respirator, winking at Sadie as she went through Lars’s hair.

“Sadie? Why do these things happen to me?” Lars groaned, looking pleadingly at Sadie.

“Because you’re my awesome pink pirate boyfriend.” Sadie smirked. “And Steven? maybe take the long way around?”

Steven nodded at Sadie, tightening the straps on the respirator before performing a cannonball dive into Lars’s hair.

\--------

As promised Steven and Connie took the long way around. They nearly spent all of the oxygen supply looking around the pink savanna realm, which didn’t have much to offer. Steven’s moms hill with a tree only had a couple of things on it, one of them being a treasure chest. Steven and Connie attempted to open it, analyzed the key hole, lift and shake it to see what was inside, but whatever it was, it didn’t seem to heavy. Then again, Steven was the one lifting it, so with his strength put into account, it wasn’t truly an indicator as to how much it weighed. 

Going back to the other side, they found themselves back at Steven’s house, where Lion apparently had a bubbled gem in his mouth, and was attempting to break into it. Spending another 10 minutes, Steven and Connie ended up chasing lion all over the place to catch the ball from him. It seemed as though Lion was just wanting to play with them. After just surrendering to exhaustion, Lion stood proudly over the collapsed teenagers, and as a sign of mercy, dropped the bubbled gem on top of Steven’s face, covered in slobber. Connie pulled out a handkerchief from her bag, and helped clean Steven up.

They went to go pick up Sadie and Lars, took a brief detour to get Lars some swimming trunks at one of the Beach City kiosks, and went directly back to the fountain. everyone there patiently waited for Steven, Connie, Sadie and Lars return. Buck and Sour Cream were casually speaking to Amethyst about musical genres, and mildly disagreeing about if grunge metal was the same as death metal. Peridot was tinkering around with some of the musical instruments, seeing if she could try to implement an auto-tune synthesizing device to a bass guitar, much to the annoyance to Jenny.

“Auto-tune is the future, Manny!” Peridot exclaimed. “If you want your meep-morps to be ahead of the curve, you got to be ahead of the time!”

“For the last time, The. Name. Is. Jenny!” Jenny said, arms crossed and scowling at peridot, who was wrapped up in an unnecessary amount of wires. Then she looked up and saw lion and his passengers, two of them sticking out of Lions mane since Lion had a 2-seat minimum. “Oh hey, they’re back!”

Almost all eyes were turned on the new arrivals, except for Bismuth, Fluorite, and Blue and Yellow Diamond, who were mesmerized by the aquatic mid-air dancing performance of Lapis, wavering around in the air on two very large wings made of water from the fountain. Lapis wasn’t doing this to entertain the Diamonds, but just out of enjoyment. Even if I caused the Diamonds to be stuck in a hypnotic trance.

Everyone formed up around Lion. Greeting the return of lars, Lapis turned her attention to the small group forming around them, breaking the Diamond’s trance and paying attention as well. They saw Lars in the group, just as Lars turned to look at the large ladies sitting in the pool. A sharp pang hit Lars, his legs were screaming at him to run. But his hand, being held tightly by Sadie, said otherwise. Sadie felt that ping of panic as Lars gripped her hand tightly.

“Its ok, Lars.” Sadie whispered to lars as Lars is slightly bombarded with questions about what death was like. Questions he was as uncomfortable answering than he was being in the presence of two being who had inadvertently caused said death. “You don’t have to run. I’m here with you.”

“Thank you, Sadie.” Lars whispered back, smiling at her. 

Instead of his worse fears coming into fruition, Lars was welcomed back in open arms. He even got to learn a few cords of the guitar from Buck. Jenny and Sadie were talking to Lars about making some ube, which Buck said he could persuade his dad to hire him one’s a pastry chef at the reopened Big Donut, now known as the Beach City Café. For once, Lars looked genuinely happy, but only until Blue Diamond creeped closer to Lars to take a closer look at him. Before she could, Steven stepped between them both.

“I know you two have your differences, but this is a new day.” Steven said to both of them. “A chance to turn over a new leaf. Please be nice.”

“I…I just wanted to apologize.” Blue said, frowning. “I…if anything, we would have put you in the zoo, but…are you ok?”

“Um... yeah. Just pink now. And I got a cape.” Lars said nervously. Blue diamond took a pinky and rubbed against Lars’s cheek kindly. This made Lars blush somewhat, and looked infinitely nervous.

“That’s good. I heard capes, whatever they are, are nice. I think.” Blue Diamond said kindly. “Oh, where’s the kitty?!”

Blue diamond looked around for a brief moment for a Pink Lion, something easily spotted, even from her height. 

“There he is!” Blue Diamond chimed, picking up the Pink Lion, who was staring at her, tail swishing around as he was standing right next to a strange statue sitting at the waters edge with a hooded figure. She reached over to pick up the excited Lion, who seemed more than happy to be picked up. She touched her nose to his, making a ‘boop’ which cause Lion to blink slowly and purr. She then immediately placed Lion on top of her head like a hat and sat back down where she was before. All yellow can do is stair awkwardly at her and Lion, who was laying down on Blue’s hair.

Seeing that everything is ok, he noticed that something was missing. Someone didn’t come and greet Lars. Steven’s attention had turned back to the strange statue sitting at the edge of the fountain. he had gone over to see what it was, with Connie tagging along. As the two of them got over to the fountains edge, they had found the missing person. Connie’s mom, Priyanka, sat there, her feet in the water and looking petrified. Her hair seemed to have a few lighter high lights in it than she did before. As to why she was sitting still and looking to be in shock, the culprit was sitting right next to her, hugging her arm. Obsidian, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh, hey guys. I want you to meet my mommy.” Obsidian said, causing Priyanka to wince. “I’ve been keeping her company while you two were getting those love birds back together. Good thing you didn’t stick around for THAT mess. Whooo-yee. Just. Wow.”

Neither Steven nor Connie wanted to imagine that. But instead, Dr. Maheswaran looked over at the two and shuffled towards them, and ushering away from Obsidian without looking like she’s running away.

“Bye mommy! See you soon!” Obsidian called out, causing the tall, petrified woman to usher them faster, and on the far side of the fountain. she spun Steven and Connie around, and met them at eye level by crouching down.

“For now on, you two are no longer allowed to keep her alone with me! Is that clear!” Priyanka spoke urgently through gritted teeth.

“Um. Yes. I actually didn’t see-” Connie attempted to say before being cut off.

“I said is it clear? Is anything clear anymore? What does that word even mean?!” Priyanka said, looking scared. “I mean, it’s kind of a silly word. It’s unclear what the term clear-”

“Breathe, Dr. Maheswaran. Just breathe.” Steven said, putting a hand on her shoulder, and slowly making audible blow breathing sounds. “What happened?”

“She…. I…I dunno.” Priyanka said, staring off into space, as though she was physically watching a thought drift away from her. “Repressed memories? All I can say is that Connie, no matter what you do in life, what you choose to become, I won’t pressure you into doing something you aren’t interested in. No matter what, I love you, and I know you’ll do great things in life. I’ll always love you, my sweet cub.”

She then pulled both of them towards her in a tight embrace.

“Same goes to you Steven. I love you. I love you both, and you can be whatever you want to be…. just don’t end up like me, ok? Priyanka said, a tear running down her cheek. All the others could do is hug back as tight as they could. Whatever Obsidian did, or whatever they showed her, she was in a lot of trouble with Steven and Connie. Mostly Connie though, you just don’t drag up painful memories of growing up to a person’s mother. You just don’t do that.

Yellow Diamond looked over at Steven, who was still in Priyanka’s tight embrace.

“Um… Do you think I can borrow Steven for a few moments, scary human mother lady?” Yellow diamond asked politely. Priyanka gave a slightly tighter squeeze and released him from her grasp.

“OK, he’s all yours.” Priyanka said.

Steven walked over to Yellow Diamond, who stretched out her hand so he could climb up to it.

“OK, just like we planned, ok?” Steven asked Yellow.

“Yes. And Steven, I’m proud of you for doing this.” Yellow said, smiling slightly at Steven.

“We both are.” Blue chimed in, with Lion still asleep on top of her head.

“I…I only wished that we could have been nicer… payed more attention to-”

Steven cut Yellow Diamond off.

“It’s ok. I know it hurts, but right now, you’re both making up for it. That’s what matters.” Steven said, smiling brightly. They both saw a little bit of his mother in him. They were proud.

“OK. Rose Quartz, place the gem in the fountain, if you please.” Yellow asked politely to the group of slightly surly Rose Quartz gems, who nodded in affirmation of the order, and helped lift a large, white gem, with white veins running through it, from a metallic container. And, without much grace, chucked it into the fountain, which started to glow.

“Is that normal?” Steven asked, looking down, while trying to keep his balance.

“Steven, none of this is normal. But this should work.” Yellow said. “All of our essence will have to be in the fountain for the corruption to be cured.”

Steven nodded with determination. Yellow Diamond then slowly shifted her hand over the deep end of the fountain, and a little higher than Steven had anticipated. He grew nervous about how high he was, but only before he looked at Connie, who was standing in the crowd, smiling up at him.

‘Do it for her.’ Steven thought to himself, hearing Pearl’s sing song voice. But suddenly, he realized he forgot the gem he was going to use to uncorrupt first.

“Oh, wait, the gem!” Steven exclaimed in sudden surprise.

“I got you, dude!” Amethyst said, standing near Connie as she threw a bubbled gem at Steven. He caught it in time, just before he raised his hands up to announce a message.

“This Pool party is officially begun!” Steven exclaimed to a cheering crowd. He too a few steps back, and starting from the center of Yellow Diamond’s hand, ran towards her finger tips and jumped in with a loud ‘weeeeeeeeee’!

But as he was performing a perfect cannon-ball into the fountain, he heard a familiar voice yelling to him. Connie’s.

“.....Wrong Gem! Steven!” Connie cried out as he fell into the deep end of the pool with a large splash that soaked everyone standing near the edge of the fountain.

Steven wasn’t sure as to what she meant by that. Or at least not until he looked into the bubbled gem in his hands. As the bubble dissipated, he saw a strange, pink colored fluid coming off his skin. And the bubbled gem that was in it showed its true shape. It wasn’t an multi sided gem with a red circle in the middle, worm gem. And it wasn’t a black orb with green lines and a circle.

It was a strange, diamond shape gem, deep orange and yellow with a couple of small blue and green dots. Steven’s eyes grew wide in shock. A faint light began to emanate from the back of the gem, a strange, glowing white blob began to grow larger and larger. Details of long, lush, white hair formed at the top. It grew larger and larger.

“No.” Steven attempted to speak, but the water prevented any noise to escape. He began to swim upwards as fast as he could, but the reforming gem followed him. Matching him speed for speed, Steven desperately swam upwards. But just before he broke the waters surface, he saw that particular gem face to face, and a devious grin to boot.

“No.” Steven whispered to himself, as he stared up at the towering figure. “Jasper.”

**Author's Note:**

> The pool party was just the beginning. And it's not over until some characters watch the sun set on the hillside of the lighthouse, questioning the future, and wondering about what 'family' is, in a gem sense. might be out in August. It all depends on the heat/earthquakes, as well as maybe some more writing lessons.


End file.
